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NIV is used unless otherwise noted.

A Teachable Spirit

The fear of the
Lord teaches a man wisdom, and humility comes before honor.

Proverbs 15:33

The young
man sitting across the table confided, “When I was twenty-five, I
thought I knew everything and was bullet proof. Nothing could hurt me, and no
one could teach me anything. In the past few years I’ve discovered neither of those was true.”

He paused
and then added, “Today I know how fallible I
am. I realize I can learn a lot from other people. Now in each new experience I
look for what God wants to teach me.”

As he
talked, I thought about the difficulties I’d seen him go through. I
realized he could have become bitter and hard as a result. Instead he’d chosen to be teachable.

In the
trying times, he’d learned humility and gained
maturity. Now he was older and wiser.

For a
Christian that’s as it should be. As we grow
older, we should grow wiser. However, it doesn’t always happen that way.

Sad to
say, I’ve met some senior citizens
who were neither wise nor humble. Their spiritual and emotional maturing hadn’t kept pace with their chronological aging.

Proverbs
15:33 says, The fear of the Lord teaches
a man wisdom, and humility comes before honor. That tells us to have an
attitude of respectful reverence toward God. When we do, we automatically
position ourselves where we should be - humbly beneath Him. Then we become
teachable.

In that
posture of respect and humility we are ready to learn from God and from
others.